The 18th-century Masonic seal from Bauska
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The 18th-century Masonic seal from Bauska
The object of this week is an 18th-century Masonic seal from Bauska, which dates back to the period when the city was part of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Masonic seals were primarily used to sign official Masonic documents and in the individual correspondence. This seal was owned by a Master mason who used it for personal letters. The seal does not show the name of the lodge or the owner. However it features the key Masonic symbols — the compass and square. In Masonic philosophy, the square symbolizes morality, justice, and honesty. Meanwhile, the compass represents temperance, the struggle against passions, and the free spirit of a Freemason.
The discovery of Masonic artefacts on the territory of the Baltic states is a significant event. The vast majority of Masonic heritage has been destroyed through the years of persecution, which began with the official ban on fraternity in 1822 and continued with the destruction of Freemasonry in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The history of Bauska dates back to the 13th century and is notable for geopolitical factors that impacted the city. In particular, Bauska experienced frequent military conflicts and a catastrophic plague epidemic in 1711, which claimed the lives of half the city's population.
Despite these challenges, Bauska was a multicultural city where Germans, Jews, Latvians, Poles, and Lithuanians lived together. Religiously, this diversity meant the coexistence of Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Judaism, which influenced the region's overall culture and created a favorable environment for the development of Freemasonry.
Catholicism passed on the heritage of Greco-Roman antiquity and the Italian Renaissance, Lutheranism spread the humanist ideas of Protestant reformers, and Judaism offered Old Testament mysticism and Kabbalistic teachings. For this reason, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, along with its capital Mitau (modern-day Jelgava), became centers of mystical Masonic orders, particularly Rosicrucianism.
In the 18th century, Mitau was home to the Courland Old Scottish Grand Lodge Ernst zum rothen Adler (“Ernest to the Red Eagle”), which included Masons who had attained the Master’s degree. This lodge practiced higher mystical rituals and included noblemen from the Bauska area. Among the most notable were brothers Ernst Johann Fircks and Friedrich Ewald Fircks, active Rosicrucians and leaders of many local lodges, who were closely associated with Johann Georg Schwarz, one of the most prominent Russian Freemasons. It is known that the famous physician Matvey Mudrov, initiated into Freemasonry in Riga, sought higher Rosicrucian degrees in Courland.
Among local Freemasons was Otto von der Hoven, a Knight of the Order of Saint Stanislaus and a diplomat who, in 1795, signed the act of the Duchy of Courland's annexation to the Russian Empire. Another notable figure was Christoph Georg von Medem, the uncle of poet Elisa von der Recke, who in 1779 corresponded with the mystic and adventurer Alessandro Cagliostro.
Near Bauska lies the famous Rundale Palace, built in the 1730s for the Dukes of Courland by architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. This was Rastrelli’s first major project, and he later gained worldwide fame as the architect of the Grand Peterhof Palace, the Winter Palace, and other landmarks in St. Petersburg.
After Courland's incorporation into the Russian Empire, Rundale Palace was handed over in 1795 to Count Valerian Zubov, a prominent military leader who participated in wars against the Ottoman Empire and Persia, and the brother of Catherine II's favorite, Platon Zubov. The palace remained in the Zubov family until 1824, during which Rundale and Bauska prospered under the economic policies of Count Platon Zubov, who actively promoted grain trade.
However, in the context of Freemasonry, Platon Zubov’s legacy remains controversial. During the 1780s, Zubov reached the pinnacle of power in the Russian Empire, holding top military and political positions and becoming Catherine II's main favorite. It is known that both Platon and Valerian Zubov were initiated into Freemasonry in the 1780s and were sympathetic to the brotherhood. However, his attitude changed in connection with the French Revolution, especially after the execution of King Louis XVI. Following these events, Platon Zubov became a staunch opponent not only of Voltaireanism and revolutionary-minded Freemasons but of Freemasonry as a whole.
This shift may indicate that Zubov initially joined Freemasonry for political gain without deep knowledge of Masonic philosophy. It was Zubov who accused Mason Nikolai Novikov of anti-monarchist views—a fabricated charge, as Novikov consistently expressed his opposition to radical representatives of the French Enlightenment. Novikov was eventually imprisoned in the Shlisselburg Fortress, and Zubov closed his printing press, which was the largest in the Russian Empire at the time of Novikov's arrest in 1792. This dealt a serious blow to Freemasonry, though the brotherhood eventually recovered, and lodges operated until their final ban in 1822.
In conclusion, even relatively small Latvian towns like Bauska are closely connected to the most prominent Freemasons of the Enlightenment era. This highlights the many unexplored pages of Masonic history, the study of which integrates local events into global historical processes.